Z Lab was founded in 2014 by founders Noh Kyung Rok, Park Jung Hyun and Lee Sang Muk. It has a wide range of work areas, ranging from planning for spatial design to architectural design, interior design, brand design, and experience design. Z Lab is a design team that aims to create a communication based on place and space, and an emotional space that reflects the wishes and will of the individual. The studio had to strike a balance between personal desire and regional universality in terms of design and regional identity. In this case, they created a new experience through space and personalized lifestyle branding.

In this master class, Park Jung Hyun, one of the founders, shared Z Lab's design philosophy and development process. He started the course by talking about the opportunity for the establishment of the firm and the projects they completed initially. He summarized the design characteristics of Z Lab into three key words: locality; content; experience. The office uses the characteristics of different regions to conceive space, and presents customers with different experiences from daily life through its contents. In the project analysis, he also mentioned how to extract the brand culture and environment and operate in the most appropriate way.

Yinjispace：How long is the project? Which stage would be more important?

Z Lab：We usually need one year to do a project. First, we go to the site, watch the site with team members and all designers, and then spend one month preparing the first plan. In fact, this month is the most important. Most of the maps and plans you have just seen are finished in one month. It takes one month to create ideas, then four to five months to materialize them. After the plan is determined, construction begins. The process of starting construction is not very different from that of other architect firms. On the contrary, during the construction process, the process of designing an experience suitable for the space will be carried out again. Experience design usually takes about two to three months, which can be understood as the application of things designed by experience to space during construction. After the space is integrated into the experience design, we will also intervene and guide when entering the shooting stage. Until it is uploaded to the website named Stayfolio and known by people, we will continue to do our work

Yinjispace：In your former design, does the marketing planning group work with the help of professional opinion? Or are the architect’s own ideas enough?

Z Lab：Now, in addition to the well-known construction business field, the creativity, brand, experience design, visual design and brand design of planning and operation are all completed by our designers together, without the help of other teams. What is important is that people who design spaces create brands and design operations and experiences, which is very different from people who do not understand spaces at all. In addition, different from other design firms, we have not only architects, but also visual designers, space interior designers, and industrial designers, gathering various designers working together in the name of space designers.

Yinjispace：What is your favorite B&B product? Why? What are your differences?

Z Lab：In South Korea, there are people who do small scale home stay like this, and there are also people who operate large hotels or enterprises. Compared with small residences, young architects have been trying recently, and doing more architectural activities. For example, some people we think are our partners rather than our competitors. There are Sizhu architectural firms, Formal Architects Office and Stay Architects. Each of our spaces has different characteristics, because we have a long time of design experience, so those parts and designs that can not be solved and described by architecture, as we show you today, we are doing more in-depth design of this kind, while other designers' recent work is more focused on architecture.

Yinjispace：What are the key points in long-term profit gaining?

Z Lab：From the perspective of business model, Stay actually has a clear business model. For example, if you can earn 100 yuan a day for a stay, in the end, even if you work hard for a month, your sales will be only 3000 yuan. In this case, if our business model wants to succeed, such basic expenses as cleaning fees and management fees must be reduced. In turn, we need to increase the added value; If you can earn 1000 yuan for accommodation instead of 100 yuan for accommodation, and focus on creating such value for accommodation, because the cleaning fees for 100 yuan and 1000 yuan accommodation are the same, you will get more income. It will be a good thing to think more and focus on finding business added value to generate profits.

Yinjispace：How do you balance the appearance influence and the practicality?

Z Lab：I think that compared with practicality, we should first create a space that people cannot feel in their daily life. We think that travel is to escape from daily life and go to an unusual space. Therefore, the appearance should be updated and different rather than a daily space, which is the first point in the design direction of the appearance. Second, as for the efficiency and rationality of space design, the first difference between house and accommodation is basically storage space. For those who come to stay, they see an open wardrobe, not a closed wardrobe, a kitchen where everything can be seen, rather than a kitchen with many drawers. It is very different from daily space, but to create a more comfortable space for use is the core of space interior design. In addition, the space for people to stay is not the space for guests, and it needs to be cleaned by the administrator. As a result, there was another door and space that people could not see, and the administrator took out cleaning tools from there. Some spaces need washing machines and dryers. I think one of the key points is to create a separate space, so that it can be easily managed.

Yinjispace：Which one of practicality and story line is your emphasis in introducing the traditional culture? How do function and story logic combine?

Z Lab：I have done a lot of work to integrate functional stories into modern life. For example, we saw the furniture in the Noir project before, and then this small table. These things are actually old things. We interpret them to make them more comfortable in size and height. Through this process, we can experience traditional culture comfortably in modern life. In fact, I think connecting functions and stories are part of the brand. As I said, there is a physical environment called space, in which images are stories and brands. The various functions and programs that follow are ultimately devices that support this story. Finally, when we go to the space as guests, it is one night. Generally, the check-in time is about 3:00 p.m., and the next morning at 11:00 a.m. we would leave, the time to experience the space is about 20 hours, but in fact, there are more cases of containing and explaining stories for too many functions. Therefore, compared with adding too many functions, more energy is spent on thinking about how to tell a good story, present a good brand, and then use the least functions to tell a bigger story.

Yinjispace：Does the main profit come from marketing, and the design fees are used in developing new projects?

Z Lab：Our company is not one, but divided into two companies. One company is called Z Lab, and the other is called Stayfolio. My Z Lab is a design company, and Stayfolio is the company that runs it. The sales revenue is completely divided. Our company is a company that only makes money by design. Therefore, it is to make money from many of the design results I have just shown, and the profit from the operation is made by a company named Stayfolio, which is totally different.

Yinjispace：Are there anything could be improved when you do the review?

Z Lab：Recently, I have been thinking a lot about technology. As for the iot system, we often have guests coming to use this kind of non face to face space without anyone present, instead of the traditional face to face space. We have been thinking and looking for the direction that even without our guide, the guests can use everything well, and the cleaners can also manage well. We believe that the design or application should conform to the gradually developing technology, which is our major task.